Utah isn’t exactly the first place you think of when you talk about beer, but Epic Brewing is doing their best to change that. Hosted by the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange, Epic brought out what might have been every beer they have available at the moment.

For me, the highlight was the Big Bad Baptist double stout. It was a big beer (close to 11 percent), but didn’t taste super boozy and had lots of chocolate and sweetness without being overbearing. We also tried the Hopsolution IPA which was very heavy on the grapefruit side, but still a nice beer.

After the Beer Exchange, we went to Boatyard Brewing, another local Kalamazoo brewery. They were doing a sort of 40’s prom theme kind of thing, but it came off more as a USO party. We tried a few of their beers, nothing really stood out as super impressive, and the whole vibe of the place seemed a little off. The people running it were nice enough, but it just didn’t click…I could be convinced to go back, but I don’t think I would ever suggest it.